Joseph Curl | The five-word solution to the ‘fiscal cliff’

Don’t pay your taxes, America.

There. Solved. Next problem.

Wouldn’t that be something, if America simply said, “Enough!” If Americans didn’t eat Hamburger Helper and keep the thermostat at 66 degrees all winter so they could save enough money to give to the federal government, which would once again spend it like Liberace at a candelabra shop? (Sorry to those under 50 — for the younger set, think Miley Cyrus at a tattoo parlor).

What if Americans decided that the federal government and the 535 men and women in Congress paid — by us — to run our government just aren’t up to the task? What if they said — all 308 million (yes, all the babies, too) — that those servants we’ve hired may even be suffering from dementia and must be stopped immediately? They must be nuts, right, thinking they can spend $3.6 trillion when we give them only $2.5 trillion?

Now, think about that. Last year, Americans busted their humps, grinding through mind-numbing commutes for hundreds of hours, slaving away at their jobs — whether they like ‘em or not — worked evenings, weekends, missed Little League games, dinners with family and friends, just to make ends meet, balance the books. In an economy the re-elected president loves to say is the worst since the Great Depression (and his intent is to see that it lasts just as long), Americans have struggled through; they hunkered down, kept that drudge job, did their work to stay alive.

And then the government said, “Hey, fantastic: We’re going to need $2.2 trillion of that cash.”